Artificial intelligent assistant

titter

I. ˈtitter, n.1 Obs. rare.
    [Derivation unascertained.]
    Some kind of weed found in cornfields; perh. a wild vetch (strangle-tare, tine).

1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 109 The titters or tine Makes hop to pine. Ibid. 113 From wheat go and rake out the titters or tine, If eare be not foorth, it will rise againe fine.

II. titter, n.2
    (ˈtɪtə(r))
    [f. titter v.1]
    The act of tittering; a stifled laugh, a giggle.

1728 Morgan Algiers II. v. 314, I do not think I ever can forget it: for it so often sets me on the Titter. 1777 F. Burney Early Diary 7 Apr., He kept a continual titter among the young ladies. 1874 Burnand My Time xvii. 144 Irrespressible titters among those of the audience most remote from the stage.

    b. transf. A sound as of tittering; a rustling.

1856 Bryant Gladness Nat. iv, There's a titter of winds in that beechen-tree.

III. titter, n.3 slang.
    [Of uncertain origin: cf. tit n.3, tit n.6]
    A young woman or girl.

1812 J. H. Vaux Vocab. Flash Lang. in Mem. (1964) 274 Titter, a young woman or girl. 1845 E. J. Wakefield Adventure in N.Z. I. xi. 319 A chief was called [by whalers] a ‘nob’; a slave, a ‘doctor’; a woman, a ‘heifer’; a girl, a ‘titter’. 1882 Sydney Slang Dict. 6/2 Nark, to watch, to look after; ‘Nark the titter’, watch the girl. a 1890 in Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang (1890) II. 356/2 Only a glass of bitter! Only a sandwich mild! Only a stupid titter! Only she's not a child! 1953 Landfall (N.Z.) Sept. 179 Boys, she's a larky little titter.

IV. titter, v.1
    (ˈtɪtə(r))
    [app. echoic: cf. Sw. dial. tittra to giggle (Rietz); but perh. related to tittle v.1]
    intr. To laugh in a suppressed or covert way (often as a result of nervousness, or in affectation or ridicule); to giggle.

a 1619 Fletcher Wit without M. iv. ii, I could so titter now and laugh. 1657 [see tittering vbl. n.]. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), To Titter, to giggle, or laugh wantonly. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. xix, She went away tittering. 1792 A. Young Trav. France 117, I observed him several times playing off that small sort of wit, and flippant readiness to titter, which, I suppose, is a part of his character. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xxvii, Upon which Mrs. Nickleby tittered, and Sir Mulberry laughed, and Pyke and Pluck roared. 1864 Knight Passages Work. Life I. v. 221 The young women tittered when the old clerk indulged in his established joke.

    b. trans. To utter or say with suppressed laughter.

1787 Minor I. viii. 28 No, it shall never be tittered about as at the last races. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. ix, ‘Never mind me’, tittered Miss Squeers.

    Hence titteˈration nonce-wd., tittering.

1754 Richardson Grandison (1781) V. xliii. 276 The holding up of a straw will throw me into a titteration.

V. titter, v.2 Now dial.
    (ˈtɪtə(r))
    Forms: 5–7 titer, 7 tyter, tytter, tetter, 8–9 titter.
    [ME. titer, implied in titering; = ON. titra to shake, shiver, OHG. zittarôn (G. zittern):—OTeut. *titrôjan; not found outside Teutonic. Cf. teeter.]
    1. intr. To move unsteadily, as if about to fall; to totter, reel; to sway to and fro.

c 1374 [see tittering below]. a 1618 Raleigh Seat Govt. (1651) 60 So would the other [i.e. Kings' Crowns] easily tytter were they not fastened on their heads, with the strong chains of Civil Justice and Martial Discipline. 1644 G. Plattes in Hartlib's Legacy (1655) 198 Then the floor of the sellar will rise up, and tetter and swim like a bog-mere. 1798 Frere & Canning Loves Triangles i. 26 in Anti-Jacobin 16 Apr. (1852) 107 Fair sylphish forms..Wave the gay wreath, and titter as they prance. 1904 Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v., (Worc.) Take care, the table titters.

    2. intr. To see-saw. See also titter-totter.

a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Titter, to ride on each end of a balanced plank. Otherwise ‘titter-cum-totter’. 1854 A. E. Baker Northpt. Gl., Titter, to ride on a balanced plank.

    Hence ˈtittering vbl. n.2, the action of tottering or swaying; unsteady movement; fig. hesitation, vacillation; ppl. a.2 that totters or sways about.

c 1374 Chaucer Troylus ii. 1695 (1744) (Campsall MS.) In titeryng and pursuyte and delayes The folk deuyne at waggynge of a stre. 1661 K. W. Conf. Charac., Juryman Rustick (1860) 37 Then he gallops a titering pace home. 1739 J. Spence Let. 23 Dec., in Academy 20 Feb. (1875) 191/3 So full of tittering and uncertainty in his carriage.

VI. ˈtitter, adv. Now only north. dial.
    Also 3 titer, 4 tyttar, 4–5 -er, 7–8 tider.
    [Comparative of tite adv., with shortened vowel; cf. rather, latter, elder, utter. Cf. ODa. tidre more quickly, sooner, compar. of tit (Kalkar IV. 338).]
    More quickly; sooner, earlier.

a 1300 Cursor M. 22481 (Edin.) Titer sal tai rin on grund Þan firslauht dos quen it es stund. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. C. 231 He [Jonah] watz no tytter out-tulde þat tempest ne sessed. c 1460 Towneley Myst. viii. 293 Go, say to hym we wyll not grefe, Bot thay shall neuer the tytter gang. 1674 Ray N.C. Words s.v. Astite, Tide in the North signifies soon, and tider or titter sooner. ‘The tider..you come, the tider you'll go’. 1684 G. Meriton Yorks. Dial. 287 (E.D.S.) He had come titter..if he had knawn. 1874 Waugh Chimney Corner (1879) 8 It brings 'em down, titter or latter,—as how strung they are.

    b. More readily, more willingly, sooner, rather.

13.. Cursor M. 28120 (Cott.) And titter wald i lesyng make Þan man my worde vn-treu to take. 1375 Barbour Bruce ii. 518 Þai chesyt tyttar with þaim to ta Angyr and payn, na be þaim fra. c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 428 He grauntyd vnto þaim..at he wulde furste tytter take þe charge of þe empyre rather þan þe wurschup þeroff. 1724 in Ramsay's Tea-t. Misc. (1733) I. 63, I had titter die than live wi' him a year. 1807 R. Anderson Cumberld. Ball., Aul Hollow Tree v, Far titter than wear them, She'd burn them or tear them. 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss. s.v., ‘I would titter go than stay’.

    c. ellipt. the titter up, the one that is up sooner or first of two. north. dial.

1787 Grose Provinc. Gloss. s.v., Tider up caw, let him that is up first call the others. 1790 Mrs. Wheeler Westmld. Dial. (1821) 112 We set dawn that titter up sud coe tudder up neisht mornin. 1876 Whitby Gloss. s.v., ‘T' titter up t' sprunt mun ower [= hover] a bit’: the first up the hill must wait awhile.

VII. titter
    dial. form of tetter.

Oxford English Dictionary

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